A Pop-Culture Podcast

Month: August 2018

Welcome to the Weekend Watch. Where we try to point you towards the best ways to spend your viewing time (or, at least, steer you clear of the garbage).

Movies

Wide Release

The Little Stranger

Loren: Meh. I hate to start a week off like that but this didn’t do much for me. Everyone’s too damn British for it to feel all that creepy.

RDT: Love the cast and like the director. But this did nothing for me. Sorry.

Rick: It’s difficult to pull off an effective ghost story anymore, but I like this cast and it looks atmospheric. I’m willing to give this one a shot.

Jen: Is Domhnall Gleeson in everything now? How do you pronounce his name anyway? This looks effectively creepy but not gory so I’m willing to give it a chance.

Operation Finale

Loren: Hey it’s Star Wars leads in period pieces week! This was looking pretty solid but then they went and Nick Kroll’d it all up. I don’t think I’ll be seeing this.

RDT: So, it’s September. Too late for blockbusters. Too early for legit prestige films. If this were better, we wouldn’t be seeing it for another couple months.

Rick: There’s been a rash of WWII movies in the last year. Can we move onto another conflict? It’s not like there’s a shortage of them.

Jen: I, too, am sick of WWII stories, but this has more of a 70s “Boys from Brazil” vibe that I kind of am into. Nick Kroll does give me pause but I didn’t immediately hate him in this trailer, so that’s a plus.

KIN

Loren: Oh cool, let’s glorify guns even more! Yeah, I know, it’s an alien gun but the point still stands. And this is from someone that loves action movies. The difference here is that this puts a crazy future gun in the hands of a kid as the only way to protect his family. It’s like AXL from last week if the robot dog that you are supposed to relate to was a fucking gun.

RDT: Holy shit! Is that James Franco as the bad guy? When did he buy a boat?

Rick: There’s…there’s a lot going on in that trailer, and I’m not sure I have a pressing need to unpack it all by seeing this movie.

Jen: I want this to be either more of a family film about a kid who finds some alien tech or a dark film about a guy out of prison trying to keep it straight for his family. Not that I want to see either of those movies either, but I think one of those would be better than what’s happening here. Continue reading →

Welcome to the Weekend Watch. Where we try to point you towards the best ways to spend your viewing time (or, at least, steer you clear of the garbage).

Movies

Wide Release

The Happytime Murders

Loren: Be careful what you wish for 2010 Loren, you may get it. Boy does that look not funny at all. Also over 8 years in development can’t be a good sign. Pass.

RDT: I chuckled a little more than my cohorts. I won’t rush out to see it, but I’ll give it a watch once it goes streaming.

Rick: Every movie Melissa McCarthy has made with her husband has been a creative letdown (see: The Boss, Tammy, Life of the Party). This looks to continue the trend. Also, Peter Jackson kinda did this already in 1989 with Meet the Feebles. I’m not saying that movie is great, but Happy Time Murders isn’t breaking any new ground here.

Jen: No. I did not laugh but I did cringe. That can’t be a good sign.

Searching

Loren: For a movie using the Unfriended style of shooting this actually looks pretty tense. It might even be a good wake up call to show how much and how little we can get from people’s online personas. But I still don’t think I’m going to see it.

RDT: I also am a John Cho fan. But I feel like I’d get burnt out on the gimmick pretty quick. Also, since it’s all shot on “screens,” what’s the need to see it in theaters?

Rick: Apparently this is the first in a series of a planned fourteen (!) movies in what the producer is calling “ScreenLife” style; meaning all the stories are told inside computers/monitors/phones, etc. This looks decent, but fourteen? Even if the stories are compelling this is going to get old after maybe two or three of them.

Jen: I love me some John Cho and this actually looks less gimmicky than I would have thought. I think we’ll see a lot more films in this style and most won’t be good, but this one has some potential.

AXL

Loren: ET meets Short Circuit meets Lassie meets Beethoven. In other words, I’ve never seen this movie but I’ve definitely seen this movie.

RDT: Because I’ve already seen this movie a million times, I’m never going to watch this movie.

Rick: Looks like another “quality” entry into the burgeoning robot dog subgenre. Who wants to binge watch this along with A.R.C.H.I.E., Robo-Dog, and Robo-Dog: Airborne? Huh? Who’s with me? Hey! Where are you going?! Awww. I ordered pizza and everything…

Jen: This reminded me a lot of Monster Trucks for some reason. This definitely feels like a movie that would have come out in the mid-80s and that I would have watched on VHS at my best friend’s house. Continue reading →

Welcome to the Weekend Watch. Where we try to point you towards the best ways to spend your viewing time (or, at least, steer you clear of the garbage).

Movies

Wide Release

Crazy Rich Asians

Loren: It’s great to see a whole cast of Asian actors in not a martial arts movie. The downside here is that this plot looks pretty standard to say the least. Couple that with the media blitz and the mid-August release and I don’t think I’ll be in for this one.

Rick: Definitely breaking a lot of ground for underrepresented Asian performers, but it looks like a pretty standard romantic comedy. There really isn’t any competition this weekend and, given the popularity of the novel, it’ll probably do well. I, however, am out.

Mile 22

Loren: The first trailer I saw for this was terrible and creepily jingoistic. This leans much more into a paramilitary 16 Blocks. I’m not a huge Mark Wahlberg fan but I love Iko Uwais (The Raid) who I didn’t realize was in this. That’s gonna get me to see it, but definitely not in the theater.

Rick: So, it’s basically 16 Blocks, but more explodey. I’m okay with that. Not opening weekend, but maybe a couple of weeks in when I need an action fix.

Alpha

Loren: I love dogs. But I don’t need to see this as a dramatization. It’s a prehistoric story of a boy and his dog. Got it.

Rick: Wait. He fell what looks like ten stories and just broke his ankle? GTFO. Also, this looks like a more self-serious version of 10,000 BC. Super pass. Continue reading →

Welcome to the Weekend Watch. Where we try to point you towards the best ways to spend your viewing time (or, at least, steer you clear of the garbage).

Movies

Wide Release

The Spy Who Dumped Me

Loren: Look I love Kate McKinnon and less than indifferent to Mila Kunis but this looks pretty mediocre at best. I guess we’ve finally gotten to the doldrums of summer. It was fun while it lasted.

RDT: I love Mila and enjoy Kate, but if I’m going to the movies this weekend, it’ll be to catch up on something I’ve missed (likely Incredibles 2 or Three Identical Strangers).

Rick: I laughed far more than I thought I would during that trailer. Also, like Jen says below, Gillian Anderson.

Jen: Droughtlander (the lack of new Outlander episodes on television) will get me to the theater to see Sam Heughan in all his glory. I imagine I will drink before watching. Also, Gillian Anderson.

Christopher Robin

Loren: First and foremost the 100 Acre Wood group are terrifying in live action. That being said this looks so saccharine you’d have to be a monster not to feel something about it. I do have a feeling that’s all by design though so it makes me have confused feels. I don’t think I like that.

RDT: I feel like I’ve seen this movie a million times before. But I kinda still wanna see it. Eventually.

Rick: I have no doubt this is heartwarming, but I’m a little weirded out by how the characters look in “reality”. I’m most disturbed by Tigger. Why does he look like a child’s toy that was left out in the sun for about a decade? Shouldn’t he be as colorful as the rest of them?

Jen: This could be a lot of fun with my daughter who loves some Winnie the Pooh. Side note she used to call him “Poo-a the bear” and I kinda miss that.

The Darkest Minds

Loren: I can hear the pitch meeting now. “It’s X-Men meets The Maze Runner meets…” “You can stop right there, this is perfect, we own those franchises so no one will sue us.” (Reads RDT’s entry, reads Rick’s, Hey I liked Push too! Are we the only 3 that saw it?)

RDT: (go read Rick’s) I remember Push! That movie was fun! This? Not so much (I’m assuming).

Rick: Isn’t this just a more emo version of Push (2009)? I am the only one who remembers that movie?